The Invid are a strange amalgamation of technologies. One one hand the Invid lack many of the advanced technology and weapons that the Tirolians and the Zentraedi possess, but on the other hand, the Invid have much better Fold Drives, Protoculture Reactors, and a powerful sensor system that can detect the emissions given off by another Protoculture Reactor. Even though the Invid had been at war with the Tirolians for centuries, their technology rarely changed during that time. The only significant improvements of note came near the end of this period in history. The first advance was the creation of the Inorganics, special robot-like creatures that helped the Invid Regent take control over the core of the Tirolian Mercantile Empire, and the second advance was the introduction of missiles on Earth during the Third Robotech War, a technology that the Invid never used during the course of their war against the Tirolians. This document describes the ship systems used by the people of Earth and it uses the information in the Standard Ship Systems document. Technology concerning missiles is covered in the Early Invid Missiles document.
From computers to shields to electronic counter measures, combat systems are vital to protect a ship from attacks and to allow a ship to hit a target, but the Invid were woefully incompetent in this area. The Invid used their ships for generally only one purpose, to transport their mecha. Invid tactics always included releasing massive swarms of mecha that would overwhelm their enemies. The actual ships used by the Invid were quite weak, the only exception being the Trilobite Class Combat Vessels (the REF designation) used by the Invid Regent during the Sentinels' War.
All Invid ships are equipped with some level of armor that protects the ship from damage. The type of armor used by the Invid is a special ceramic-steel mix that results in an ultra-hard metallic alloy. This alloy is an M.D.C. structure and is the basis of all ship armor, mecha armor, Inorganic armor, and body armor used by the Invid and is based off of Tirolian technology acquired over the years.
A primitive reconstruction of the Hexagonal Force Field System used by the Tirolians, the Invid protected their Hive Ships with a powerful Omni-Direction Shield System. The shield protects the hives with a single force field that completely encompasses the ship. In order to damage the ship protected by the shield, its entire M.D.C. must be depleted first. While the shield is active, the Invid can fire their weapons against targets outside the shield without any problems and the shield regenerates at a rate of 250 M.D.C. per melee.
The Invid deploy the same type of Hull Region distributions that the Tirolians used. When a ship is attacked, the type and strength of an attack determines whether an attack damages only a single Hull Region or whether it damages the ship's Main Body. For more details on the rules concerning Hull Regions please see Revised Rules for Ship Armor and how it applies to the ship's used by the Invid in Early Invid Ships.
The area where the Invid fail to come close to the advances of the Tirolians is in the area of artificial computers, but the Invid compromised by creating a special organic brain that would control most of their ships' functions as well as controlling the lesser Invid and the Inorganics. While large fleets and armies may need multiple brains, the brains are highly intelligent and come close to the capabilities of the fastest computers used by the Tirolians. A ship's weapons are controlled by a local brain that can control and assist in targeting any number of weapons without penalties. This allows an Invid ship to target a large number of individual ships and mecha, but since most ships are not equipped with powerful weapons, this is rather meaningless. The brain is also capable of identifying friendly targets from enemies and communicates that information to the ship's pilots and to the surrounding Invid mecha as needed. As with most targeting computers, the brain provides a bonus to strike with the ship's direct fire weapons, such as laser cannons, and since the Invid do not use missiles on any of their ships, no bonus is provided for that type of weapon. The bonuses provided depend on the size and type of the ship, see Early Invid Ships for more details on the ships used by the Invid up until the end of the Third Robotech War.
Another category where the Invid do not have the same technological level of the Tirolians but where they have developed alternatives. The Invid use a special version of telepathy to communicate with their ships and mecha that are in the same solar system, but they use Hyperspace Communications Relays to communicate at FTL speeds and for the rare communications between the Invid and other races.
Based on the same technology as the Fold Drive, the Hyperspace Communications Relay allows faster than light communication between two objects. However, Hyperspace Communication is still not instantaneous. Audio/Video communication travels through Hyperspace at a rate of about one light-year every 5 seconds, so messages communicated over vast distances can still take days, weeks, or even months to arrive. Unlike most types of communications, the Hyperspace Communications Relay can communicate through planets and other obstructions unhindered. While extremely difficult to intercept, it is possible and the intercepting unit must be either close to the source or the destination of the communication, however, Hyperspace Communications are impossible to jam and the only way to stop an object from sending this type of communications is to destroy the antennas that are needed for the relay to function properly.
The Invid Brains use an advanced and long range version of telepathy to communicate to other Invid, such as those in control of mecha and ships. This telepathy is instantaneous, but it does have range limitations and cannot be used on Invid more then 1 light-hour (671,061,600 miles / 1,079,968,960 km) away from brain. Both the Invid Regis and Regent have this power as well, except their range is doubled to 2 light-hours.
This category of ship systems do not fit into any of the other categories and are generally related to life support and command and control facilities. The systems in this category are found on all Invid ships.
The Invid evolved alongside the Flower of Life and knew of the amazing amounts of energy it could produce. The Invid always saw themselves as the caretakers of their planet and their precious flower, but the Tirolian scientist Zor convinced the leader of the Invid to share her knowledge with him and through Zor, the Tirolians that would become the Robotech Masters gained control of the secrets of the Flower of Life. When the Zentraedi despoiled Optera to prevent anyone else from acquiring the Flowers of Life, the Invid leaders turned their entire race into a war machine powered by their vast reserves of Protoculture. The Invid's sole source of energy are their Protoculture Reactors, which are vastly superior to the designs used by the Tirolians.
Using captured Tirolian technology, the Invid learned how to create artificial gravity generators on their own ships to simulate the gravitational conditions on their home world of Optera, which are very similar to Earth and Tirol. These systems are not sophisticated enough to alter gravity within the ship to different levels, so the entire ship must have the same gravitational conditions.
Life Support is the most critical system on a ship or space station and keeps everyone on the ship alive with the environmental conditions that allow them to function. Invid are very similar to Tirolians in that they breathe oxygen, but most other environmental conditions, including the temperatures they prefer are different. It is possible for Humans and Tirolians to function in an Invid ship without assistance. Life Support systems are generally designed to accommodate at least 10% more then their regular crew and troop complement. In emergency conditions, the maximum number of people that can be supported by a Life Support system can usually be exceeded, but not indefinitely.
Propulsion systems are a category where the Invid both excel and have barely adequate technology. First, the Invid were able to copy captured pieces of Tirolian technology in order to develop adequate anti-gravity / chemical rocket drives, but they are no where near as efficient as the Tirolian equivalents. The area where the Invid do excel is with their Fold Drives. Over the centuries, the Invid were able to adapt and modify the captured Tirolian Fold Drives to create units that are much more reliable, have much longer ranges, and are much more energy efficient then the drives used by the Tirolians.
Using captured Tirolian drives, the Invid were able to duplicate this interesting drive system. The anti-gravity units located throughout the ship decrease its effective mass so that the chemical rockets do not need to propel the ship's entire mass. The overall effect is that a ship has a much higher rate of acceleration then the power of its chemical rockets would otherwise indicate. The downside of this drive is that the chemical rockets do need a source of fuel that must be replenished, but this is seldom a problem for the Invid who maintain large stockpiles of fuel on their ships.
One of the most significant achievements of the Tirolian people was the development of the Fold Drive, a system that allows a ship to effectively travel at speeds faster then light by folding space around the ship. The Tirolians thought they perfected this technology, which requires a huge source of energy, after they gained access to Protoculture, but the Invid have brought Fold Drives to a new level. The Fold Drive allows a ship to effectively travel at a rate of 15 light-years per hour, or 1 light-year every four minutes, but the hyperspace navigational equipment that is part of the system cannot safely execute a fold jump of distances greater then 5 kiloparsecs (16,300 light-years). If the destination is further away, the ship must execute multiple jumps. A ship executing a fold operation can be tracked by a Hyperspace Mass Sensor, but it is impossible to intercept a ship that is in the middle of a fold operation. The Fold Drive developed by the Invid can be activated once every ten minutes.
The Invid both copied versions of the most valuable Tirolian sensor systems and they developed a brand new sensor system that would prove incredibly effective against the Tirolians the REF during the Sentinels' War. All of the sensors used by the Invid are passive in nature and cannot be detected.
For each sensor, a table is provided that shows the typical ranges for sensor systems equipped on ships used by the Invid. Each table is comprised of a sensor class and the maximum range they can detect tiny, small, medium, or large objects. Class I sensors are equipped on small ships, class II sensors are equipped on small, combat oriented ships, class III sensors are equipped on medium-sized ships, class IV sensors are equipped on medium-sized hive ships, and class V sensors are equipped on the Royal Hive Ships. See Early Invid Ships for specific sensor classes on ships used by the Invid. A tiny object is any object that is less then 150' (45.7 m) or Less then 1000 tons (907.2 metric tons). A small object is any object that is between 150' (45.7 m) and 1000' (305 m) long or between 1000 tons (907.2 metric tons) and 400,000 tons (362,874 metric tons). A medium object is any object that is between 1000' (305 m) and 5000' (1524 m) long or between 400,000 tons (362,874 metric tons) and 18 million tons (16.3 million metric tons). A large object is any object that is greater then 5000' (1524 m) long or greater then 18 million tons (16.3 million metric tons).
A very large and powerful sensor system, the Hyperspace Mass Sensor can detect and track ships that are using their Fold Drives. The Hyperspace Mass Sensors have a base chance of 75% to detect an active Fold Drive. The location of a detected space fold is limited to an area with a radius of 1.5 light-years, but once a ship is detected, the sensors will continue to track the ship until it arrives at its destination or leaves the detection range of the sensor. The sensors can narrow down the end point or the origin of a fold jump to an area with a radius of only 0.25 light-years. This sensor provides a modifier of +15% to detect targets, +100% to track targets, and -10% to identify targets.
| Sensor Class | Tiny | Small | Medium | Large |
| Class IV | 4 parsecs (13.04 light-years) | 20 parsecs (65.2 light-years) | 40 parsecs (130.4 light-years) | 60 parsecs (195.6 light-years) |
| Class V | 8 parsecs (26.08 light-years) | 40 parsecs (130.4 light-years) | 80 parsecs (260.8 light-years) | 120 parsecs (391.2 light-years) |
One of the most significant advances that the Invid possess is the Protoculture Emission Sensor, which allows the Invid to detect all sources of Protoculture. Since both the Tirolians and the forces of Earth use Protoculture as their main source of energy, the Invid had a way to detect them that their enemies never even suspected that the Invid possessed until near the end of the Third Robotech War. Readings from this system are not very detailed and ships have a penalty of -25% to identify any detected targets. This sensor provides a modifier of +60% to detect targets, +30% to track targets, and -15% to identify targets, which includes the penalty mentioned above.
| Ship Size | Tiny | Small | Medium | Large |
| Class I | 25,000 miles (40,234 km) | 250,000 miles (402,336 km) | 500,000 miles (804,672 km) | 750,000 miles (1,207,008 km) |
| Class II | 75,000 miles (120,701 km) | 750,000 miles (1,207,008 km) | 1.5 million miles (2.4 million km) | 2.25 million miles (3.6 million km) |
| Class III | 125,000 miles (201,168 km) | 1.25 million miles (2 million km) | 2.5 million miles (4 million km) | 3.75 million miles (6 million km) |
| Class IV | 200,000 miles (321,869 km) | 2 million miles (3.2 million km) | 4 million miles (6.4 million km) | 6 million miles (9.7 million km) |
| Class V | 300,000 miles (482,803 km) | 3 million miles (4.8 million km) | 6 million miles (9.7 million km) | 9 million miles (14.5 million km) |
Along with most of their technology, the Invid stole the technology to build the Subspace Mass Sensor, which is a primitive gravity sensor. The Subspace Mass Sensor detects the gravity signatures created by an object and can track the movements of those objects. This sensor uses technology related to the Fold Drive, giving the sensor special properties that most gravity sensors do not possess. The Subspace Mass Sensor is not tricked by the presence of strong gravity sources, such as placing a ship near a planet, but its readings are not very details and ships have a penalty of -25% to identify any detected targets. A major advantage of a gravity-based sensor is that it is instantaneous across huge distances and this sensor can compensate for large gravity sources, such as planets and stars, allowing a ship to "see" past such obstacles, which would blind most gravity sensors. This sensor provides a modifier of +40% to detect targets, +40% to track targets, and no modifier to identify targets, which includes the penalty mentioned above.
| Sensor Class | Tiny | Small | Medium | Large |
| Class I | 50,000 miles (80,467 km) | 500,000 miles (804,672 km) | 1 million miles (1.6 million km) | 1.5 million miles (2.4 million km) |
| Class II | 100,000 miles (160,934 km) | 1 million miles (1.6 million km) | 2 million miles (3.2 million km) | 3 million miles (4.8 million km) |
| Class III | 500,000 miles (804,672 km) | 5 million miles (8 million km) | 10 million miles (16.1 million km) | 15 million miles (24.1 million km) |
| Class IV | 1 million miles (1.6 million km) | 10 million miles (16.1 million km) | 20 million miles (32.2 million km) | 30 million miles (48.3 million km) |
| Class V | 2 million miles (3.2 million km) | 20 million miles (32.2 million km) | 40 million miles (64.4 million km) | 60 million miles (96.6 million km) |
On their ships the Invid use only basic weapons, mainly laser cannons of various sizes. The Invid never deployed missiles on their ships, even after the Invid Regis developed missile technology on Earth during the Third Robotech War.
For their space ships, unlike their mecha, the Invid only use laser cannons. While not as powerful as most of the comparable weapons used by the Tirolians, the laser cannons used by the Invid are far from weak and their larger Hive Ships carry enough cannons to destroy most Zentraedi vessels within a short span of time. Unfortunately, the Invid only have a few Hive Ships of that size. An optional rule to use for energy weapons is Energy Weapons Dissipation, which reduces the damage inflicted by an energy weapon the further it travels away from its source.
To defend a ship against smaller targets, the Invid use small laser cannons as their point defense weapons. These laser cannons have limited range and power, but they suffer no penalties to strike small targets such as mecha, fighters, and power armor, but they are not as useful against other spaceships. An optional rule to use for energy weapons is Energy Weapons Dissipation, which reduces the damage inflicted by an energy weapon the further it travels away from its source.